Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1887-08-27

language that sounded soft and pleasing
enough, but of which we could not understand
one word. So we hailed back in English,
French, Latin, Greek, German, Zulu, Dutch.
Sisutu, kukuana, and few other native
dialects that | am acquainted with, but our
visitor did not understand any Of these
tongues; indeed, they appeared to bewilder
him. As for the lady, she was busiiy em-
ployed in taking stock Of us, and Coed was
returning the compliment by staring at her
lard through his eyeglass, proceeding that
she seemed rather to enjoy than otherwise.
At length the man, being unable TO make
anything out of us, suddenly headed his boat
round and began TO head OF for the shore,
lis httse boat Swimming away before the
sind like a swallow. AS she passed across
our bows, tho maa turned 70 attend to the
large sail, and Good promptly took the oppor-
tunity to kiss his hand to the young lady. I
was Mortified at this proceeding both on
general grounds and because l feared that
she might take offensc, but TO my delight she
did not, for, first glancing round and seeing
that her husband, or brother, or whoever IL
was, was e. gagged, she promptly kissed hers
back.
"Ahls said /, "it seems that we have at
u
country understand"
ain which case" said Sir Henry, "Good
viii prove an invaluable interpreter
frowned, for do not approve of Goods
frivolites, and he knows 1t, and turned the
conversation TO more serious subjects at is
very clear to me-" said, "that the man will
be back before long with host of his fellows,
so that we had best make up our minds as TO
\ 20 fbnr,,
"The question is, how will they receive usi"
said Sir Henry.
As for Good, he made no remark, but be-
gan to extract small square tin case that
had accompanied us in all our wanderings
from under pile Of baggage. Now. we had
often demonstrated with Good about this tin
case, inasmuch as it had been an awkward
thing to carry, and he had never given any
very explicit account as to its contents; but
he had insisted on keeping it, saying mysteri-
ously that 1t might come in very useful one
day.
What on earth are you going to do, Goods"
asked Sir Henry.
"Dos--why dress, of course! You don't
expect me to appear in a new country in
these things, do your and he pointed to his
soiled and worn garments, which were, how
with every tear neatly mended.
We said no more, but watched his proceed
ings with breathless interest. His first step
was to get Alphonse, who was thoroughly
competent in such matters, to trim his hair
and beard in the most approved fashion.
think that il he had had some hot water and
a cake of soap at hand no would have shaved
off the latter, but he had not. This done, he
npft ba
canoe and all take bath, which we did,
greatly to the horror and establishment OF
Alphonse, who lifted his hands and ejacu-
lated that these English were indeed won
derful people Umslopogaas, who, though he
was, like most high bred Zulus, scrupulously
cleanly in his person, did not see the fun of
swimming about in lake, also regarded the
proceeding with mild amusement. We got
back into the canoe much refreshed by the
cold water and sat TO dry in the sun, while
Good undid his tin box and produced first a
beautiful clean white shirt, just as it had left
a London steam laundry, and then some gar
ments wrapped first in brown, then in white,
and finally in silver paper, We watched this
undoing with the tenderest interest and much
speculation. One by one Good removed the
dull husks that held their splendors, carefully
folding and replacing each piece of paper as
he did SO; and there at last lay, In all the
majesty of its gold epaulets, lace and buttons,
a commander Of the royal navy's full dress
uniform--dress sword, cooked hat shiny
patent leather boots and all We literally
gasped.
"Whatn we said, "whati Are you going
to put those things onG"
Certainly" he answered, composedly: "you
see so much depends upon first impression,
especially he added, "as observe that there
are ladies about. One at least of us ought 60
be decently dressed"
We said no more; we were simply dunn
founded, especially when we considered tho
artful way in which Good had concealed the
contents of that box for all these months.
Only one suggestion did we make, namely,
that he should wear his mail shirt next his
skin. He replied that he feared it would spoil
the set of his coat, now carefully spread in
the sun to take the creases out, but finally
consented to this precautionary measure. The
most amusing part Of the affair, however,
was TO see old Umslopogaas' astonishment and
Alphonses delight at Goods transformation.
When at last he stood up in all his glory,
even down to the medals on his breast and
contemplated himself in the still waters Of
the lake, after the fashion of the young
gentleman in ancient history, whose name /
can't remember, but who fell in love with his
own shadow, the old Zulu could no longer re,
strain his feelings.
"Oh, Bougwanp he said. ooh, Bou-wanl
l always thought thee an ugly little man,
and fat-fat as the cows at calving time; and
now thou art like a blue jay when ne spreads
his tail ont Surely, Bougwan, it hurts my
eyes to look at thee"
Good did not much like this allusion to his
fat, which, to tell the truth, was not very
well deserved, for hard exercise had brought
him down four inches; but on the whole he
was pleased at Umslopogaas' admiration. As
for Alphonse, he was quite delighted.
"Ahl but monsieur has the beautiful air.
the air of the warrior. II is the ladies who
win say 60 when we come 10 get ashore.
Monsieur is complete; he puts me in mind Of
my heroic grand"--
Here we stopped Alphonse.